The present invention generally relates to a system that assists organizations in the maintaining essential services during periods of crisis by routing incoming communications efficiently.
The operation of critical world economic systems are at risk of disruption by events that interfere with the ability of organizations to continue operations during these events. Events such as natural disasters, disease outbreaks, and acts of terrorism or war can lead to societal upheaval that results in substantial absenteeism among the employees of critical systems. Employees may be unable to travel to their place of employment due to their own unavailability, illness or injury to family members, fear, or directives of governmental institutions. As a result of employee absence at their normal place of business, the continued functioning of necessary infrastructure may be at risk, as well as the disruption of the business operations of even non-critical services organizations.
The organizations that are threatened by chaos arising from disaster are diverse, and range in size from very small to the largest organizations. Examples of small organizations at risk include institutions such as local utilities, local governmental institutions, public safety organizations, and food and fuel wholesalers, distributors and retailers. Larger entities at risk include regional utilities, transportation providers, such as airlines and transit authorities, and governmental organizations such as FEMA and the military.
In many institutions, there is no absolute requirement for all employees to be present at a single, or even normally assigned, place of business. The organization may continue to operate so long as employees maintain access to the company's communications or control systems for normal business operation. There is a continuing need for a variety of institutions to maintain a cohesive chain of responsibility for continuing operations during periods of crisis.
As an example, natural disasters such as hurricanes, wildfires or earthquakes may make travel to the normal place of employment virtually impossible for certain key employees. Thus, those physically inaccessible employees, though otherwise able to carry out their job duties, are absent from their jobs. When absenteeism for organizations such as electric utilities, government agencies, and transportation systems reaches a certain level, their operations cease to function effectively. For instance, following a severe winter storm, travel via public roads may be impossible, leading to excessive absenteeism among customer service representatives of an electric utility. As a result, customers may be unable to contact the electric utility for instructions, or to provide reports of emergencies or power outages. Nonetheless, the customer service agents, though not at their normal (now inaccessible) job locations, could carry out their duties if a functioning communications system were operating.
In a second illustrative example, during the occurrence of a disease pandemic such as an influenza pandemic (or related panic response), absenteeism may reach critical levels across a variety of industries due to illness of employees, illness among employee families, fear of contagion, quarantine, or declaration of a public health emergency. Such absent employees, though unable to travel to their normal job location, may be able to complete their job responsibilities even at a reduced level of efficiency. Presently, there is no available system that in times of crisis can effectively assess employees' location and availability, and then direct communications and operational control to available employees in order to allow continued operation when absenteeism is severe.
A startling example of communications failure leading to a failure of critical economic systems occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf coast of the United States in September 2004. It is well known that in the days following the hurricane, flooding in New Orleans displaced employees of law enforcement and utility companies, who were unable to effectively communicate with survivors. As a result additional death and destruction of property occurred. In addition, in rural areas of Mississippi not directly affected by flooding, loss of electric power and communications failures led to severe disruption of water, food and fuel supply. If employees of these critical systems had been able to carry out their job responsibilities at remote locations, such disruptions may have been effectively moderated.
In light of the substantial risk of societal disruption and loss of business activity due to severe hazardous events, there exists an acute need for a system and method that provide for a resilient and efficient routing of communications traffic from unavailable representatives of organizations to those agents or representatives capable of performing essential tasks necessary for the continued functioning of the organization.